Love At Home

There is beauty all around, When there’s love at home;

There is joy in ev’ry sound, When there’s love at home.

Peace and plenty here abide, Smiling sweet on ev’ry side;

Time doth softly, sweetly glide, When there’s love at home;

Love at home, love at home, Time doth softly, sweetly glide,

When there’s love at home.

In the cottage there is joy, When there’s love at home;

Hate and envy ne’er annoy, When there’s love at home.

Roses blossom ’neath our feet, All the earth’s a garden sweet,

Making life a bliss complete, When there’s love at home;

Love at home, love at home, Making life a bliss complete,

When there’s love at home.

Kindly Heaven smiles above, When there’s love at home;

All the earth is filled with love, When there’s love at home.

Sweeter sings the brooklet by, Brighter beams the azure sky:

Oh, there’s One Who smiles on high, When there’s love at home;

Love at home, love at home, Oh, there’s One Who smiles on high,

When there’s love at home.

These past few weeks have been wonderful and painful all at the same time. I am in love with this baby, and we are so excited for him or her to join our family. But this pregnancy has been very rough on me, and thereby hard on the entire family. I feel so much guilt. My house is a mess, dinner is rarely cooked, laundry is spilling out everywhere, and my poor husband watches his wife lay around all day moaning and in tears. I will do anything for this baby, even if it means 9 months of vomiting every food I encounter, and 9 months of struggling to stand at all hours of the day. Some days are good. I get around slowly but surely, getting the basics done. But most days I am in a fog of hormones. Yes, I do realize this is normal for pregnancy. No, I do not feel sorry for myself. I write this to share our life, the days when smiles and joy are tucked away. I pray for a healthy baby, and if in May we welcome a happy healthy little tot, all of this will be worth it a million times over. Today I am feeling the weight of being a horrible housekeeper and wife. So I turned to the Ensign, and the scriptures. And felt the comfort and love of my Heavenly Father, as I read an article from President Monson, and the words of the hymn Love at Home rang in my mind. There is beauty all around, when there is love at home. My family knows my love for them, I share it with them every day. Amali knows her mommy is sick but trying very hard to make sure each day is a joyful one for her busy little feet. And that is what matters. Not the dishes in the sink, not the piles of laundry, not the torn up bathroom and incomplete entry way, and everything about this old house that bothers me. But the love we have for each other. And some days, that is the only thing that will get us through. But we are so blessed for that. We must cling to each other, and to the comfort of our Heavenly Father. Leaning on him for understanding and peace. Yes, my life has been a struggle the past few weeks. But my life is more blessed then I could have ever imagined, richer then I could have ever dreamed.